Leaf: A Pokémon Story
by lordrobbo666
Summary: The tale of a young man named Leaf from Pallet Town who begins his quest for glory through the Kanto region as a Pokémon Trainer. This story's settings and certain characters are based off the Pokémon video games, anime, and manga, with some more mature themes strewn throughout.


**Chapter One: Pidgey Delivery Service!**

Leaf awoke rather abruptly in the brand new light of a Monday morning. Autumn had just begun, and the leaves on the trees that lined the street outside his home in Pallet Town were just starting their transformation into warmer colors. Half-asleep, he rolled over and cracked his eyelids open just enough to glance at the clock on his desk: 6:45 a.m.. As with most 18-year-olds, this was far too early to get up, let alone be awake, so he let his eyes close again and tried to resume resting. Just on the edge of sleep, however, he was jolted awake yet again, but this time, he heard what woke him up before.

His bedroom had two windows: one in front of his desk, and the other next to his bed. Despite his incoherence, he could've sworn that he heard something tapping on the window beside him. He decided to ignore it, but seconds later – " _TAP, TAP!_ " – it sounded again. With an overexaggerated amount of effort, he sat up and rubbed his eyes, which stung from the beams of sunlight piercing into his bedroom. He put his hands down after he could finally see and turned to face the window.

To his surprise, there was a Pidgey perched on his windowsill outside. It gave him an impatient look, tilted its head to one side, then pecked the glass again. Around its neck was a little red scarf, and it appeared to be holding an envelope.

Groggily, Leaf got to his feet and slunk over to the window. The little bird Pokémon hopped backwards a bit and watched as the boy with the unkempt, dark brown hair slowly lifted the window open before stretching its wings out and kicking off into his bedroom.

Leaf nearly tumbled over as the Pidgey bolted past him and soared just below the ceiling in small circles. It went around and around several times, chirping excitedly, then plopped down onto his pillow, but not before letting go of the envelop it was holding, which sailed down and landed on the wooden floor in front of his bed. The bird ruffled its feathers and nestled into the spot where he laid his head every night, staring at him as if waiting for him to react in some manner.

"Great, now my bed's gonna smell like Pidgey," Leaf sighed, walking over and lifting the envelop from the floor. It was blank, except for some sharp indents at the top where it'd been in the bird's claws. He tore it along the edge and removed a small folded piece of paper. Opening it, he read it aloud in a low mutter:

 _ **Dear Leaf,**_

 _ **I'm happy to announce that your Pokémon Trainer Card has been printed and approved. I'll just need you to fill out the necessary paperwork, then you'll be all set. Please come by around 7 a.m. this morning so we can get everything finalized, and so I can give you your first Pokémon as well. See you soon!**_

 _ **~ Professor Oak**_

"7 a.m.?!" Leaf said. He looked up at his clock, which now read 6:50 a.m.. The Pidgey on his pillow cooed and scratched itself behind its ear.

"I'm gonna be late!" Leaf threw the letter on his bed, then grabbed his jacket off the back of his desk chair. He didn't bother to fix his hair, or change out of the novelty Pokémon t-shirt and sweatpants he slept in, he just pulled some socks over his feet, slid into his shoes, and threw his bedroom door open.

Only then did it occur to him the Pidgey was still in his room. He turned on his heels and saw it looking at him with a hint of bewilderment on its face.

"Please don't destroy anything in here," he said, realizing that's probably what it would end up doing the moment he left, but he figured it didn't hurt to ask nicely. He turned back around and rushed down the hallway before descending the stairs as fast as he could without losing his balance.

Downstairs, he was met with the smell of coffee and pancakes. His father, Indigo, was standing in front of the television, sipping his morning cup of joe.

"Dad, where's Mom?" Leaf said as soon as his feet hit the ground.

"Hang on, the weather's about to come on," his father said without looking away from the news.

"I gotta get to Professor Oak's lab in ten minutes," Leaf said, "I need a ride over."

"Why do ya need to go _there_?" his father said after taking a casual sip of coffee.

"Ugh, never mind, I'll just walk it," Leaf said. He grabbed his house keys off the dining room table and flung the heavy wooden front door open.

"Hey, can you grab the mail while you're out there?" he heard his father say just as he pushed the screen door open.

"Sure thing!" Leaf yelled just before the door snapped shut behind him. He didn't have time to do it now, but he figured he would grab it on his way back.

He couldn't have asked for better weather. The sun shone down over Pallet and cast speckled shadows behind the leaves. A breeze wafted by and messed up his hair even more, at which point he slipped his hood on and continued down the driveway to the road that ran in front of his home.

It was early enough that their weren't any cars, but with Pallet being such a small town, their usually weren't many people out and about at any time in general. He didn't want to start running and risk looking more bizarre than he probably already did being out so early, so he settled on walking at a quick pace. He wasn't sure how long it would take him to get there, since he rarely went to that side of town.

Professor Oak's lab was located across a long stretch of farmland in the opposite corner of Pallet from where Leaf's home was. Oak co-owned the farm and helped keep the Pokémon there in top condition when he wasn't busy doing fieldwork on Route 1. As soon as Leaf walked a few blocks from his home, he was met with a view of the lab way off in the distance, its flat red roof and metal walls gleaming in the sun. All he had to do now was cross the enormous crop field that was well into its growing season.

At the foot of the field, Leaf looked around to make sure nobody was watching him before slipping into the maze of cornstalks. The plants grew easily over his head, so he couldn't see where he was going in the slightest, but he had a rough idea of which direction to go in. He made sure not to accidentally break any of the stalks, even the ones that caught on his clothing as he pushed by. A quick check of his phone told him it was now 6:57, which made him move a little faster and little more carelessly. That's when he stepped on something that didn't quite feel like soil.

Leaf looked down and noticed that his foot was pressing down on the tail of a hungry Rattata that had an ear of corn in its teeth. He lifted his foot slowly and backed up away from the tiny rodent.

"Oh god, I'm sorry, I couldn't see-" but he was interrupted when the Rattata let go of its meal and darted towards him. Panic set in immediately, and he dodged around the furious animal and pushed through the stalks as fast as he could. He heard the purple rodent rustling along and growling behind him. He couldn't tell how far he was from the lab, but he hoped he was getting close. Then, a sudden pain struck the back of his calf.

He grimaced and looked back, noticing the Rattata was now treating his leg like an ear of corn. Above its set of enormous teeth, two little eyes glared at him under a slanted brow.

"I said I was sorry!" Leaf kicked and flailed his leg, but the purple creature wouldn't let go. It snarled up at him, and its giant teeth held on to him tightly. He ran as fast as he could now, knocking corn onto the ground and flattening stalks. And as if right on cue, he could see daylight through the crops, bursting out of the field with the Rattata still latched onto his calf.

Leaf kicked his leg over and over, trying to get the rat to release him, but it hung on for dear life. That's when he heard gentle laughter coming from behind him.

"Now _that's_ how you make an entrance," the voice said. Leaf spun around and was relieved to see that it was none other than Professor Oak, chuckling at the sight before him. On his shoulder was perched a familiar bird Pokémon sporting a little red scarf around its neck.

"Professor, please get this thing off of me," Leaf said, pointing down at his leg. The Professor smiled and removed a Poké Ball from the pocket of his lab coat.

"Alright, Rattata, that's enough for today," Oak said with a laugh. The ball opened, releasing a strange stream of red light that enveloped the angry rodent. The sharp pressure on Leaf's calf vanished, along with the Pokémon, and he sighed and reached down to rub his leg.

"Thanks, Professor," Leaf said, "and, um, sorry about your corn." He looked back and noticed he'd left quite a large opening where he'd emerged from the field of stalks.

"No worries, and thank _you_ for the laugh," Oak said. Leaf smiled with a bit of embarrassment.

"I hope I'm not too late to fill out those papers, am I?" Leaf said.

"Not at all, I had just come outside to greet you when you arrived," Oak smiled and gestured towards the door, "come on in."


End file.
